It just occured to me that we are coming to the end of National Parks Week, where the parks are open with no admission fee. I ought to have posted something earlier in the week, but that thought missed me. Better late than never. The parks near Mount Shasta probably deserve lengthier posts in the future, but for the moment, a cursory look at them is worth while.

There are two within reasonable striking distance of Mount Shasta. Crater Lake National Park, in Oregon is centered on the namesake lake. The other, Lassen Volcanic National Park, is also centered around its namesake attraction, Lassen Peak, the southernmost volcanic peak in the Cascade Range. Since both parks are found in the Cascades, they are naturally highlighting volcanic features. Both parks have awesome scenery with spectacular vistas, gorgeous trails and photo opportunities aplenty. They are also both close enough that they can be done as a longish day trip from Mount Shasta. A day (or more) at either park is a day well spent!

Oregon’s only national park, Crater Lake is one of the iconic images of the Cascade Range. The cobalt blue waters are stunning, as are the cliffs that ring the lake. Formed when ancient Mount Mazama (a near-peer to Mount Shasta) erupted and then collapsed in on itself, the resultant crater filled in with water. The lake’s deep blue comes from the incredible purity that results from having minimal biological matter in the water. The lake is also the deepest lake in North America and one of the deepest in the world. It is really a visitor’s park, as opposed to a hiker’s park. While there are some great trails at Crater Lake, the loop road around the rim of the Crater is the highlight. It has many easily accessed vistas that offer varying perspectives on the landmarks around the lake and the surrounding region. For those who do want to hit the trail, there are plenty of hikes too, but for the most part, many lack a sense of wilderness. The park does have a significant amount of backcountry, but most of it is vast forest with few noteworthy features. Nonetheless, whether you want to hike or just imbibe deeply from the phenomenal beauty, Crater Lake National Park is a fantastic jewel on the crown of America’s public lands.

South of Mount Shasta lies one of California’s 9 national parks. Lassen Volcanic highlights the numerous volcanic and geothermal features that are the remnants of another ancient and obliterated volcano, prehistoric Mount Tehama. Unlike Mount Mazama, ancient Mount Tehama did not leave a giant crater after its cataclysmic eruption. It left a massive pile of rubble from which a new volcanic peak has emerged. Like Wizard Island at Crater Lake or the new dome being pushed up from the remnants of Mount St. Helens, Lassen Peak is a giant bulge of lava being pushed up out of the ruins of the old volcano. These secondary formations are called plug domes. Indeed, Lassen Peak is the largest plug dome in the world. Along with Mount St. Helens, Lassen Peak is the only volcano in the Lower 48 to erupt during the 20th century. This is a hiker’s park. The park road provides plenty of spectacular scenery for those not inclined to hit the trail, but most of the best attractions, from the geothermal features at Bumpass Hell to the other-worldly beauty of the Cinder Cone, Painted Dunes and Fantastic Lava Beds, you must hike to reach and appreciate them. Most of the park is official wilderness and is conducive to both dayhikes and backpacking trips. Several lakes, both large and small dot the landscape, as do other volcanic features, ancient forests, clear streams and beautiful waterfalls.

Other National Park Service Units

There are other parks operated by the National Park Service around Mount Shasta that don’t rise to the high bar of both scope and scenery set by the two parks that are still worth mentioning. Siskiyou County is home to Lava Beds National Monument, where there are an abundance of lava caves, lava flows and cinder cones, as well as historic battlefields from the 19th century Modoc War. Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, just west of Redding, has its namesake reservoir as well as numerous trails through remote forests and a surprising abundance of beautiful waterfalls. Oregon Caves National Monument, near Grants Pass in Oregon is a beautiful slice of the Siskiyou Mountains that include the intricate caves, as well as old growth forests, mountain lakes and scenic vistas of the vast Kalmiopsis Wilderness to the west. It also boasts the Oregon Caves Chateau, a classic example of NPS Rustic architecture and landscape design. All of these deserve greater attention on this site. Perhaps that will come in the near future.

Mount Shasta National Park?

While Mount Shasta is obviously not a National Park, no less than John Muir advocated for its preservation as one:

“The Shasta region is still a fresh unspoiled wilderness, accessible and available for travelers of every kind and degree. Would it not be a fine thing to set it apart like the Yellowstone and Yosemite as a National Park for the welfare and benefit of all mankind, preserving its fountains and forests and all its glad life in primeval beauty?”
– John Muir, “Picturesque California”, 1888

The park never came to fruition, due primarily to logging and railroading interests, but the mountain remains a wild, primeval place. Protection did come with the establishment of the Mount Shasta Wilderness in 1984. It may not be a National Park, but it obviously boasts staggering national park caliber scenery. I hope everyone continues to appreciate this area as much as I do!

The view from the Panorama Vista at Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur.

Well, I am back after completing another collection of trails for the new guide book. Most of the trails I hiked this time were down in the Monterey area, either in the Santa Cruz and Gabilan Mountains or down in Big Sur. This is big country, with awesome redwoods, rugged mountains, epic coast line and excellent waterfalls. It is especially scenic in the spring, when the grass is green and there is a profusion of wildflowers. I timed this trip to catch it at its best and I was not dissappointed. Along with a couple of trails in the Mineral King area and the Golden Trout Wilderness over in the Sierra Nevada, these are the southernmost hikes that will be included in the book.

The hikes on this trip were almost entirely in state parks, which is unusual for this book, since most of the hikes will be found in national forests and national parks. It is interesting how the state retained so much of its land along the Pacific while the federal government assumed control of the high mountains around the state.

Now that I have done the trails around Monterey, I have completed most of the lower elevation trails that will be found in the book. I still have some in the redwoods in Humboldt/Del Norte, two in the foothills in the Sierra Nevada and two in the high desert that lies east of Mount Shasta. After that, it is high mountain terrain for the rest of the summer!

A quick review of some of the sights:

The first trail I hiked was on the coast near Fort Bragg. The trail leads through a lush redwood canyon to a beautiful waterfall.

The Sunol Regional Wilderness, on the outskirts of the Bay Area, boasts beautiful oak savannahs, rugged rock formations and an area known as Little Yosemite. While I had anticipated this appellation might be a bit of wishful thinking, I was amazed at how much the rock-choked creek and narrow gorge evoked the feeling of the Happy Isles of Yosemite. While the whole hike was great, this particular spot was a happy surprise!

It is hard to pick one highlight of the awesome loop through the backcountry of Big Basin Redwoods. The old growth redwoods are great and the trio of waterfalls are fantastic. To me the best part was the way the trail wove so intimately and interestingly through all these great features.

An awesome loop through Andrew Molera State Park offers some of the best of the Big Sur area. Climbing along a view-packed ridge leads to a return trip on coastal bluffs and a secluded beach.

The short hike to Pfeiffer Falls is easy and popular but it is a Big Sur classic. The pretty waterfall is found in a canyon lined with redwoods.

While most visitors head to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park for awesome McWay Falls, the rest of the park is left lightly traveled. Hiking the park’s high country leads to beautiful creeks and redwoods and a truly magnificent Big Sur vista. This really is “el país grande del sur”!

No hiking guide that covers this part of the state would be complete without a journey through the Pinnacles, California’s newest national park. The hike over the High Peaks area is exhilarating and boasts great views and some amazing trail engineering. The return portion of the loop travels through a great talus cave, adding even more memorable hiking to an already outstanding hike!

The last hike of the trip was the first Sierra Nevada hike of the summer. Found in South Yuba River State Park, this hike formed a loop that travelled along an old flume and then dropped down to the South Yuba River. Much of the trail is along reconstructed sections of the flume that traverse both sides of a narrow, waterfall-filled chasm. This trail is pretty easy but packs a lot of scenery and interest!

One really notable experience on this trip was in the Pinnacles. I was the first person on the trail from the west side’s trailhead so I was on my own when I encountered a group of six California Condors who decided to hangout right on the trail. (These birds were nearly extinct and at one time there were less than 10 alive. Though they are still vulnerable, they are making a fantastic comeback from the precipice of extinction.) After waiting for them to move for a while, I was able to make contact with the park’s headquarters who contacted one of their condor crew members who was making observations in an area not far from where I was. She was not finding anything…because they were all hanging out where I was. She finally made it to where I and the condors were congregated and she was amazed to see such a collection hanging out so calmly around me. When I finally left, I had to hike right past them, only five feet off the trail!

Up here in Mount Shasta, we have definitely seen a solid winter when it comes to precipitation. It was not an onerous amount of snow, but it was enough to blanket my house in a couple feet of snow more than once and there were several smaller snow storms thrown in for good measure. Add the copious rain and it is understandable that Shasta Lake would fill up in one season. Now that we are moving out of the rain and snow season (though not totally out yet!) it is time to start evaulating where things stand in terms of the drought. Snow still covers the mountains, but how deep is it? The official reports from measurement stations have now begun to trickle in for this part of the state. Though by no means are the reports complete yet, it does seem that we have a roughly average snow pack. Some areas are considerably higher while a couple others are noticably nower. These outliers aside, the percentages look quite average. Under these conditions, it is amazing that the lake filled up so quickly. Of course, the snow pack does not necessarily reflect total precipitation, since we did have a few large storms that dropped a warm rain and resulted in little snow. Either way, a full reservoir and a spring thaw to go is a good position to be in while in a drought. You can see the lake levels here. For a visual, check out the webcams here and here.

Yet how did the rest of California fare? The drought has been severe and statewide and the snowpack in the rest of the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada matters significantly. Scanning the results of the snowpack report, it seems the rest of the mountains in Northern California did not fare quite as well as the Mount Shasta area. They had strong winters but seem to be a little less than average overall. While this is not optimal under the drought conditions, it does provide a little breathing room come summer. Let’s pray next winter will also be strong.

Click here for the companion article on hikes along the Lower McCloud River. This link has a lengthier discussion of the entire McCloud River Trail with more links to detailed trail descriptions.

As spring comes to the Mount Shasta area, many trails become more accessible to hikers hungry to enjoy the warmer weather and some beautiful scenery. One of the top destinations is the excellent McCloud River Trail. Roughly 15 miles long, stretching from Algoma Campground to just below Lower McCloud Falls, this trail runs parallel to the McCloud nearly its entire length. Along its length, it sees the river start as a smaller creek sized water wayand transform into a large, surging force, embellished by springs and tributaries. Springtime sees the rivers volume engorged by recent rainsa and the melting snow. Later in the spring the leaves return to the trees and the Indian ruhbarb flower and life springs anew, adding even more flair to the already gorgeous landscape.

The McCloud River Trail can be broken up into six sections, each making a reasonable out-and-back day hike. The sections are surprisingly different, with each offering different features and environments. While they are all worth exploring, this article will feature four of the best sections that are highlights in the spring. It should also be noted that the spring is often the first time that the McCloud River Trail is accessible due to snow. In light snow years, it is often easy to reach the trailheads but in heavy years, this can be a challenge or impossible. Since the roads between Highway 89 and the river are not plowed, the river may at times be totally cut off.

The easternmost section of the McCloud River Trail, this hike leads from the eastern trailhead to a primitive campground on a placid part of the river, set amid a mix of forest and meadows. Along the way, the trail passes through a shallow, scenic canyon. This area feels remote and indeed, sees little traffic. After exiting the canyon, trail and river entire a flood plain. The river maintains a steady flow though it does deviate from the trail, which stays above the highwater mark of the flood plain. Eventually the two reconvene and run parallel to each other through a tranquil area just prior to arriving at Nitwit Camp.

This remote section of the trail begins at one of the Mount Shasta area’s best swimming holes. After flowning through a small basalt gorge, the river hits more basalt dead ahead. This hard, erosion-resitant rock forces the water to the left, over an underwater dike. This leaves a perfect, deep, emerald waters in a beautiful place to enjoy some quality swimming. During spring the water level may be too high to safely swim here but in the summer it is perfect. Nonetheless, spring is the perfect time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Be sure to head upstream a little bit to see the scenic little groge area. After that, follow the river downstream for several miles isolated river hiking along a swift moving section of the McCloud River. The hike ends at the group campground at Camp 4.

This part of the McCloud River Trail follows the river briefly before veering away from the water to stay above the high water mark of another flood plain. This part of the hike lacks a lot of interest but once the trail crosses the road by Bigelow Bridge (a good, alternate trailhead), it enters a large, bayou-like area. This area was flooded by the construction of the small Lakin Dam, which created a small reservoir which as since silted in. The river weaves many paths through the silted area in a confusing array of channels. The trail follows along the fringe of this montane bayou before arriving at the Lakin Dam Picnic Area. The dam is not large or high and river pours over the top, forming a small waterfall. Downstream, the river passes through basalt flows and over rocks, moving at a much swifter pace than at any point so far along the McCloud River Trail. This is a particularly scenic area. The hike ends at beautiful Upper McCloud Falls, though the Middle Falls is an easy highlight to tack on.

The obvious highlight of the entire length of the McCloud River Trail, this is one of the best hikes in the Mount Shasta area. Here the river is large and wide and swift-moving. The three waterfalls are dramatically different, each displaying the different ways water interact with rocks. The Middle Falls is the most impressive, but the other two do not lack beauty. This hike can be done in either direction but most hikers begin at the Lower Falls picnic area. The section from the Lower Falls to Fowlers Camp is paved and wheelchair accessible. Beyond that point, the path runs parallel to the river, ususally just a stones throw from the water. The approach to Middle Falls is dramatic and in the spring, when the falls are full, this is a powerful, humbling sight. From there, some switchbacks and stairs lead to the rim of the canyon. The trail runs along the rocky rim before entering a deep forest along a rugged section of the river before arriving at awesome Upper Falls. And excellent hike all the way around.

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